Hi people on the forum! I have some question about two folk songs from Czech rep.; "Černé oči jděte spát" and "Vyletěla holubička ze skály". I know they are quite famous in Czech rep. I am searching the origin and historical information of them. I would like to know where they are from exactly(Bohemia,Moravia,Silesia...). And one more question around my memory; once I was in Czech rep. around 3 years ago, I saw one book about the music history in Czech republic (it was new published one and not really for scientists-musicologists, I mean it was written for ordinary people.). I don't understand Czech language so well, but I could see the score of the melody of "Vyletěla holubička ze skály" in the capter for explanation of the music history in CZ. So I suppose now possibly the song is recorded on some old litarture and we could know how old it is and from which century is approximately. I will be grateful if someone of you who has this kind of musicological interest and could answer me about the questions above. I have tried to find some sourse on the net but it was in vain. Thanks a lot in advance!
It’s always difficult with folk songs as widespread as these. There are various regional variants in different dialects and it is very hard to say which one is the original one. Also, the collecting folk songs became popular with the turn of the 18th century. Earlier records are rare. Vyletěla holubička ze skály The most common variant is this one: Code: C G7 Ami Emi F C 1. Vyletěla holubička ze skály, ze skály, Dmi C G7 C [: probudila modré oči ze spaní :] 2. Kdyby byly modré oči nespaly, nespaly, [: byly by tu holubičku dostaly :] 3. Nebyla to holubička, byl to pták, byl to pták, [: když mě nechceš můj holečku, nechej tak. :] 4. Když mě nechceš milovati, nechtěj si, nechtěj si, [: bude si mne namlouvati hodnější :] An excellent performance of this variant is here. This variant is clearly Bohemian (in fact the word “holubička” itself is Bohemian, Moravians use rather “holuběnka”). The oldest record I found (1820) is in Slovanské národní písně by František Ladislav Čelakovský - see here, but it is only the first half of it. The complete version appears in a collection by Karel Jaromír Erben. A Moravian variant is in František Sušil’s collection Moravské národní písně (1835, 1860): Code: Lhostejný Vyletěle holuběnka [: ze skály :] probudila modré oči ze spaní. Dyby byly modré oči nespaly, byly by tu holuběnku dostaly. To nebyla holuběnka, to byl pták, dyž mě nechceš má panenko, nechej tak. Černé oči jděte spát A common variant is: Code: D A7 D H7 1. Černé oči, jděte spát, černé oči jděte spát, Emi A7 D A7 D však musíte ráno vstát, však musíte ráno vstát. 2. [: Ráno, ráno, raníčko, :] [: dřív, než vyjde sluníčko. :] 3. [: Sluníčko už vychází, :] [: má milá se prochází. :] 4. [: Prochází se po rynku, :] [: nese smutnou novinku. :] 5. [: Novinečku takovou, :] [: že na vojnu verbujou. :] 6. [: Když verbujou, budou brát, :] [: škoda hochů nastokrát. :] Some other variants use “černý” in place of “černé”, “chlapcům” in place of “smutnou”, “chlapců” in place of “hochů” or “přinesla nám novinku” in place of “nese smutnou novinku”. All these variants are Bohemian. See Youtube. Again, the oldest appearence is in Slovanské národní písně by František Ladislav Čelakovský, this time a variant from Moravia, or more precisely from Haná: Code: Novina Černé oči, jděte spat, ve musíte ráno vstát. Brzo ráno, ranéčko, spíš než vejde slunéčko. Slunéčko juž vechází, má milá se prochází; prochází se po venko, donesla nám novinko. A novinko takovó, že na vojnu verbujó. Dež verbujó, budó bráť, škoda chlapců nastokrát. Té zdravé nám poberó, a té chromé nechajó.
Wer, thanks very much for your reply and information! I knew about Čelakovský's work, it is on Wikizdroje(a brother project of Wikipedia), too. I saw there the lyrics of "Vyletěla holubička ze skály", but didn't find "Novina(Černé oči)" there, because that Wikizdroje's souce is under construction and not perfect yet. It is wonderful you taught me the very word "holubička" is bohemian itself. By the way my original aim of asking about these songs were more music related, I wanted to know the origin of the melodies. Knowing the Čelakovský's work, I couldn't be sure if people at the time sung the "Vyletěla holubička..." with the melody which is famous currently because the author shows only the lyrics. It ocurres quite often folks apply the same(or similar) lyrics to various melodies, or oppositely. For instance, just above the "Vyletěla holubička..." on Čelakovský's songbook there is a song "Trojí žalost". I know 2 similar texts (in Croatian dialect) sung with different melodies which were of Croatian minority in Moravia and Hungary.(Just they sing "Vinco" instead of "Pivo", it's obvious you Czech prefer beers, and Croatians wine ) Also I have listened to a song starting the phrase "Vyletěla holubička..." but the melody was quite close to the famous "Černé oči"'s one. This "Černé oči" melody must have been beloved in the past in this part of Europe, since a famous Slovene song, still favourite among the people, has the same construction of the melody of "Černé oči". So I just was expecting there exist some old written source of the melodies from the moment when I had recalled what I saw in a bookshop in Czech rep. 3 years ago. Anyway František Ladislav Čelakovský's songbook on the I-net source (http://texty.citanka.cz/) includes also musical notations for some songs but not for all. Is the original "Slovanské národní písně" looks like this? greeting
Wikizdroje uses http://texty.citanka.cz as its source. I’m not sure about the original edition, but in the later editions in the 1830’s there are musical notations. Unfortunately, I have only modern printed edition without the tunes. It’s true, but don’t take it to strictly. I understand, unfortunately I’m not expert on music. I failed to find Čelakovský with the musical notation, but at least the Moravian Sušil is available. Google digitalized Sušil’s Moravské národní písně from 1835. There are musical notations at the very end of the book, unfortunately Google made a hash of it by spliting the pages. But all the Sušil’s work with the musical notation (and midi files) is in this extensive collection. See the links under Neperiodický tisk. You need djvu plugin for some of the links. In some of the collections you can look for the song by its beginning – just click on “podle začátku” in the menu at left. There are different Vyletěla holubička’s in the collections by Sušil and by Bartoš & Janáček. Btw, I found a Slovak “Holubička” in a collection by Ján Kollár: Code: Vyletela kukulenka… Vyletela kukulenka ze skaly, kdybych já mel plné vrecka tolary, poslal bych si pre muziku do Prahy, muzika by pekne hrala, má milá by tancovala, a já s ní. Vyletela holubička ze skaly, kdyby sme to švárné devče dostali, nebyla to holubička, než byl pták, keď ma nechceš milovati, ani se mnou tancovati, nechaj tak! This particular tune was common last post in Central European armies, wasn’t it?
Thanks again for useful infos! I think the melody is impossible to be played by a bugle which works on narrow range of natural harmonic series... But your suggestion may touch some truth, it's possble the popularization of the tune could be connected with armies or some ex-empires' history. Here is the Slovene song, quite similar to "Černé oči" songline; "Vsi so venci vejli" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWk6F-HMI9M
